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Stratigraphy and paleoecology of the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene in the open-cast mine Hambach (Lower Rhine Basin)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2016

G. Heumann  and
Th. Litt
G. Heumann*
Affiliation:
Institut für Paläontologie der Universität Bonn, Nussallee 8, 53115 Bonn, Germany e-mail: g.heumann@uni-bonn.de, t.litt@uni-bonn.de
Th. Litt*
Affiliation:
Institut für Paläontologie der Universität Bonn, Nussallee 8, 53115 Bonn, Germany e-mail: g.heumann@uni-bonn.de, t.litt@uni-bonn.de
*
1corresponding author
1corresponding author
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Abstract

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More than 400 samples for paleobotanical and sedimentological investigations were collected from Late Pliocene and earliest Pleistocene beds in the open-cast lignite mine Hambach. They were analysed to obtain information about the paleoecology and paleoclimate of this time interval. The sedimentation type changed from a high-energy meandering fluvial system to floodplain, swamp and oxbow lake sedimentation. The typical Tertiary floral elements decreased with the onset of increasingly cooler climatic conditions and disappeared at the beginning of the Pleistocene to be substituted by a impoverished and coldadapted flora. These combined litho- and biostratigraphic investigations led to an improved and reproducible separation of Late Pliocene from Early Pleistocene deposits.

Keywords

Pliocene/Pleistocene boundaryReuverianPretiglianGermanypalynologydiasporespalaeoecologysedimentology
Type
Research Article
Information
Netherlands Journal of Geosciences , Volume 81 , Special Issue 2: Rift tectonics and syngenetic sedimentation - the Cenozoic Lower Rhine Basin and related structures , August 2002 , pp. 193 - 199
Copyright
Copyright © Stichting Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 2002

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